German Hostage Flees Leftist Rebel Captors

Colombian soldiers whisked one of three Germans kidnapped by leftist rebels to safety after the hostage fled his captors, the army said.

TV footage showed Thomas Kuenzel in Popayan, 230 miles southwest of Bogota, the capital, soon after his escape. The bearded, shaggy-haired man appeared tired but healthy after two months as a captive.

Kuenzel was fleeing fighters of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, when he was rescued in the village of Pitayo, 210 miles southwest of Bogota.

Soldiers were pursuing the rebels in the hope of freeing the two other hostages--Kuenzel’s brother, Ulrich, an employee of the German aid agency GTZ, and Reiner Bruchmann, a friend. The men were seized July 18 from their car.